Scientists Say Teleportation May be Possible

Scientists at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands say they have teleported the characteristics of a sub-atomic particle in one location to another location about 10 feet away. They are saying this means that teleportation of people may be possible some day although in the very distant future. Per the article:

"What we are teleporting is the state of a particle," Ronald Hanson, a professor at the university, told Britain's Teleg.... "If you believe we are nothing more than a collection of atoms strung together in a particular way, then in principle it should be possible to teleport ourselves from one place to another.... "In practice it's extremely unlikely, but to say it can never work is very dangerous," he added. "I would not rule it out because there's no fundamental law of physics preventing it.

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Well, I remember reading about someone doing this back when I was in school, so 20+ years ago. They were trying to make 'beaming' technology (like Star Trek), and while I might have misunderstood the report (or the reporter did, it WAS Tenn), but I had thought they said they were able to 'beam' subatomic particles a short way with a machine the size of a dinning room table, at that time. I suppose it is possible they never did succeed though... or maybe this is trying to pick up where they left off... or maybe it is the same people, I can't recall where it was supposed to be taking place. Point being, while I agree, it seems rather probable, I will not be expecting to see us beaming humans in the years I have left, even if it is fun to imagine. They supposedly invented a 'tractor beam based on lasers' in New York a while back... They claim that the lasers 'loop' behind the object and 'push' it back toward the source. I would think, that in space, it would be much easier to accomplish, and could be done by other means as well, but then, I am certainly no expert in the field. XD

I can also see issues with potential copies being made (Gantz), although if they do get that working, it is not far from food (or other material) replication as well, something we might well need in the coming climate. The potential for using it for theft is also a real concern.

But, you know, why not, someone is building a real life Enterprize, or as close as they can get to it. Whatever inspires progress! XD

Neil deGrasse Tyson said on TV that because of the vastness of the universe there can be no doubt beings akin to us existed, if not in our time frame. He got a big laugh out of the sort of stuff we sent into space to lure aliens into contact. Even Elvis seems naive and irrelevant. But now they are using "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot in a Kia commercial, it's obvious nothing's sacred. Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind employs a musical device signaling the Mother Ship it should land take humans aboard.

Hopefully for them, they were not too much like us, or they are likely extinct and never made it that far either. After all, even just in our ecosystem, more than 90% of everything is extinct, we can assume life everywhere else has about the same odds.

But with the trillions upon trillions of systems out there, odds of others having life of some kind are insanely high. Even if only one such system is present in each galaxy, that is hundreds of billions of chances. The hard part is figuring out a way to locate them, and then communicate, if they still exist. Although, unless we can figure out how to bend the speed of light law, it's a pretty moot point.

Another thought on this topic, is that the universe itself is evolving as well, every time a star dies it creates new elements and sends them out into the universe. For all we know, it could have been billions of years before the necessary components were available anywhere out there. If there was life that began billions of years before ours, it would not have had access to some of the more complicated components that are more recent in the cosmic calendar. Of course it is also quite possible that many of those elements are much more common near the center of the galaxies/universe, and take much longer to reach outer areas like this one. After all, we cannot say, with 100% certainty, that the light we are seeing today, is exactly as it was when it left on its 13+ billion year trip. It could have been altered by passing through something, or distorted by a gravitational field, etc. I am not saying that is what happened, just that there is always room for doubt, that is what science is all about. Doubting our preconceived notions, and searching for the truth.

Well the story was talking about teleporting in robots, who steal things, or information, and then get teleported back out. Since we are working on developing nanomachines as well, that really isn't as far fetched as it sounds. ...though still a long way off.

Teleporting subatomic particles is one thing. Teleporting several billion / trillion specifically organized particles / atoms / molecules is SO another thing that you might as well be talking atoms and apples. I suspect it's going to be a LONG while before Scotty can beam us up.